消费者警惕固定合同误导推销再现

无良商家坑害着无辜消费者。尽管政府实施了旨在保护消费者权益的法规，但不道德商业行为却不会消失，消费者也应提高警惕。

Unscrupulous businesses prey on innocent consumers. Despite government regulations in place to protect consumers’ interest, unethical practices will never cease to exist, which prompts the call for consumers’ added vigilance.

在几年前，消费者深受推销手段误导遭坑害的报道频频见诸本报报端，推销对象包括促销热水器和能源合同等。根据这些报道，许多上门推销员并未向消费者提供必要信息，并误导消费者签订其无意签订的合同。

A few years ago, stories of consumers falling prey to misleading sales tactics -- from promoting water heater sales to energy contracts -- frequently made it to the headlines of this newspaper. According to these stories, many door-to-door salespeople failed to provide consumers with the required information and misled consumers into signing contracts that they didn’t want to begin with.

为了加强消费者权益保护，监管机构已开始要求对所有与上门推销员签署的能源合同进行电话再确认。但这也未能阻止一些无良商业行为继续坑害无辜消费者，而在某些极端情况下, 再确认程序也一再被操纵甚至是滥用。

Regulators, in beefing up consumer protection, started to require a telephone reaffirmation process for all energy contracts signed with door-to-door agents. But it hasn’t been able to prevent some practices from slipping through cracks, and in some extreme cases, the reaffirmation process has been manipulated or even abused.

黄女士就是其中的受害者之一。在2013年，一名讲国语的推销员敲开了黄女士的家门。为了推销固定费率合同，这名推销员使出了浑身解数，而黄女士的善良和有限的英语技能给他提供了可乘之机。这名推销员在被控误导黄女士签订她根本就看不懂的英语合同后，又诱骗她对根本就没有理解的电话英语提问做出“是”的回答。

Ms. Huang was one of those victims.  In 2013, Ms. Huang was approached by a Mandarin speaking sales agent. Trying to push a fixed rate contract deal, the agent used every trick in the book. The agent preyed on Huang’s kindness and took advantage of her English deficiency. After allegedly misleading Huang into signing the contract in English -- which Huang wasn’t able to read, he fooled her into giving “Yes” answers over the phone to English questions she didn’t understand.

据黄女士称，当时这名推销员将一部手机递给她，并欺骗她说公司想要就服务质量做一个简短的用户满意度调查，如果她对所有问题都回答“是”，他将非常感激。

According to Huang, the salesperson handed his phone to her, and lied to her that the company sought a short consumer satisfaction survey on the service quality, and that he would be grateful if she answered “YES” to all their questions in this regard.

看着在寒冬里冻得瑟瑟发抖的推销员，黄女士同意按照他的要求去做，但她全然不知她的回答会给一份她无意签署的合同套上法律枷锁。

Watching the salesperson freezing in the blistering cold, Huang concurred, without realizing that her answers had legally bounded her to a contract she didn’t want to enter.

在黄得知取消合同的高昂代价后，才意识到自己的麻烦有多大。根据合同，他们必须为取消合同支付总额高达$1200元的违约金。

Huang didn’t realize their trouble until they were told that cancelling the contract would be a hefty price – she had to pay for the liquidated damages totaling $1200.

直到《大中报》介入后，黄夫妇才得以取消该合同并无需支付任何违约金。但是黄夫妇的遭遇并非孤立事件。

The couple wiggled out of this contract without incurring liquidated damages, only after Chinese News intervened. But the Huangs’ story is not an isolated incident.

据EnerCare公司称，他们已经接到大量来自消费者的类似能源合同投诉。许多人都认为要求消费者提供能源账单或是要求进入他们家中等营销策略属于过分的侵入式推销手段。其中有些投诉涉及到Direct Energy等大型能源供应商。

According to EnerCare, they’ve received a flood of similar energy contract complaints from consumers. Many consumers felt that these sales tactics --- requesting consumers’ energy bills and demanding to enter their home -- are aggressive and intrusive. Some of the complaints were filed against big energy suppliers – including big companies such as Direct Energy.

在2009年，阿尔伯塔省政府发现Direct Energy公司诱骗其政府管制分公司的现有用户签署不受监管的天然气和电力合同。此后该公司誓言将会终止潜在的非法营销策略。

In 2009, the Alberta government discovered that DE was enticing its existing customers in the government-regulated division into unregulated gas and electricity contracts. The company vowed to end the potentially illegal sales tactics.

但是据CBC最近报道称，有关Direct Energy公司误导性营销策略的新投诉在六年后卷土重来。

But according to a recent CBC report, new complaints against DE’s misleading sales tactics emerged six years later.

卑诗省一位女士告诉Go Public节目，Direct Energy的推销员在今年春天使用相同的营销伎俩诱骗其签署合同。

A B.C. woman told Go Public that a Direct Energy salesman used the same sales pitch on her this spring.

据这位女士称，该名推销员出示了Direct Energy的工作证，然后告诉她该公司目前可以为其现有用户提供简化计费和更优惠的费率。

The seller presented Direct Energy credentials, and the woman said he told her the company was offering its existing customers simplified billing and better rates.

但实际上，这名推销员是在推销一个不受规管的Direct Energy子公司的固定费率天然气和电力合同，并且未有保证其合同费率肯定会低于管制费率。

In fact, he was selling fixed-rate gas and electricity contracts for an unregulated Direct Energy subsidiary, and there was no guarantee that its contract rates would be lower than the regulated rates.

在CBC的Go Public节目介入后，该公司声称其与该位女士的纠纷纯属误会，并且已经取消了有争议的合同。

After CBC Go Public intervened, the company claimed that the interaction with the woman was a misunderstanding, and has since cancelled the disputed contract.

随着夏季来临，上门推销行为也会达到高峰。鉴于相关的新投诉卷土重来，消费者应该加强提防激进和误导推销手段，并警惕家门口的欺诈行为。

As the summer season comes, door-to-door tactics peak. With new complaints emerging,  it is a time for consumers to be prepared for aggressive and misleading sales tactics, and be vigilant against scams at the door.